The packaging of long, thin items such as guide wires for medical purposes or the like presents difficulties. examples of such items include guide wires used with vascular catheters in angiography, and pervenous leads used with a cardiac pacer in cardiac stimulation. For example, guide wires may be as thin as 0.025 inch in diameter, while being 150 cm. in length. Likewise, pervenous leads may be 0.0105 inch in diameter, for example, and 62 cm. in length.
It is desirable for guide wires to be presented for use in unkinked form. Therefore the guide wires cannot be folded into a series of lengths or the like.
One method of packaging guide wires and the like is to insert them into flexible tubing which is only slightly longer than the guidewire itself. The tubing, containing the guidewire, is coiled, and a clip is placed on the tubing coils so that the coil will not unwind, and also so that the coiled package will remain flat.
Alternatively, the guidewire may be coiled, tied and then placed in a package.
In another package design, a preformed tray is used, with the guidewire being coiled in a cavity defined in the performed tray, and a removable cover placed on the tray.
The packaging of such long, thin items as a guidewire is relatively difficult and labor intensive. Likewise, storage of preformed trays consumes additional space, and the stocking of various lengths of tubing in preformed packages can be complicated.
In accordance with this invention, a new packaging system is provided which exhibits substantial advantages, in that less labor is required for inserting the elongated wire members or the like into the package. Likewise stocking is simplified, and the completed package is small and space saving.